Alpine slide

We went to the Alpine slide over in Jackson Wyoming and it was a lot of fun.
The only problem was if someone decided to go slow ie: Our niece Tess, then you all got backed up. She was just being cautious I guess!!
I think this is a great family shot though!!

I stayed with Yuki as I didn't think I'd do it. Just the slide at Cherry Hill gets me going these days!!! But Kristin did it and said it was fine so I opted to give it a go.

I found it hard to crank down on the stick cause I had this huge bulge in my way!!! I guess the harder you crank down the faster you go. That's Dru's MOTHER catching up to me. Yeah............that's how slow I was going.

Here's Kristin speeding down the slide at 6 months pregnant. Awesome.

Brain surgery

Dru and I were in bed last night and we get a phone call on his cell at around 11:45pm. It was mum, she was crying and letting me know that my nephew was in hospital getting brain surgery as we spoke.
So, that'll wake you up.
I had to get in contact with him but Dru's parents don't have any deals to NZ of course so had to do a calling card.
I had one but it expired and had to make it avaliable again.
After around 20 mins I got that fixed and tried calling my brother to no avail.
Meanwhile my sister had called me twice and I'd tried to call my bro around 7 times and it keeps eating into my money every call.
Finally I just called the hospital he was at and got my sister in law and then talked to my brother.
He had just come out of surgery and was talking and eating a popsicle!!
So it was good news.
My brother was a mess for a while...................I mean imagine being told your kid needed brain surgery STRAIGHT AWAY!!
I wouldn't even be able to talk to anyone on the phone. Dru would have to take the calls.
I guess he was mucking around at school with his mates and got thrown on the concrete and hit his temple.
They took him to the local hospital but the nurse knew something wasn't right and got rushed to the main city hospital in an ambulance and worked on right there and then.
I guess his brain swelled, I think, and needed the pressure released as well as a clot removed.
So they're going to do an evaluation after a couple of days and then reassess what the next move is.
Things are looking alright though.
Makes me look at things a little different in my hectic life, for a moment!!
My brother just wanted to talk to people who would love and support him. My sister said he just wanted to hear from us, his siblings.
My sister happened to talk to him when he was feeling the most down.
I'm glad she was there for him as he's always been there for us. He's a good mate and really good to my kids.
It makes me feel very far away and very usless.
It's times like this that I get upset about living so far away from my family.
I need someone to invent the teleporter.

Horses

So they have horses at the ranch/cabin and we happened to have one of the cabin/ranch peeps up with us for a couple of nights so she saddled the horses for us and put in a few hours work so the kids, and a couple of adults, could ride them.
Here's the daddy daughter ride.

This black horse liked to trot. He was really well natured and was great for the kids. Yuki loved it as well as Masaru. What a great opportunity. You like that look Yuki's giving me as I take the picture up the top there. Kinda like "MUM, can't you see I'm too busy here to smile, gosh"

Masaru decided he could ride this white horse by himself. He did such a good job, a real cowboy in the makings I think. Look at him go!! It also helped that the white horse was well natured as well, and Dru was pretty much right there, I just cropped him out so it looks better. And it does right?!?

The valley was BEAUTIFUL as you can see in some of the background of the pictures. I took a picture of Yuki bawling her eyes out when she had to hop off the horses. I can't find it though. Oh well. They both had a fun time and we're grateful they got to have a turn. The kids ran out and fed them carrots and grass through the week as well.

MJ

My brother emailed me and said "Where's your blog about MJ?"
So I got to thinking I should do one.
I know he's wacko jacko but no one can deny the impact this man had on music in ALL of our lives.
Thriller, Bad and Milli Vanilli were my very first LP records I owned as an 11 year old.
They had the words on them and I know those two MJ albums off by heart.
I still love them.
No one can do the moon walk as good as him.
Loads of musical artist copy his dance moves STILL TO THIS DAY.
I won't name names, we all know who they are.
I'm sad he died. I wish SO MUCH I could've been at one of his concerts. My best mate, Kat, went and said BY FAR, it was the best concert she's every been too.
She said the way that guy moves is UNBELIEVABLE.
He was starting on a come back tour.
Now I'm sad I'll never see him doing his thing.
Whatever you think of him you can't deny that this man moved mountains in the music world and was a VERY TALENTED human being.
I find usually very talented people are usually a little wacko.
You'll be missed MJ.

Hand made

These are my cute nieces.
Notice how my niece in the red is posing in almost every picture. She knows how to work it.
Masaru and his cousins spent a day working on this refuge type place down by the river. They cut out different places and collected sticks.
My nephew said "Come check out what we made" Then his sister said "More like Masaru and I made it"
I guess he knows how to deligate!!
They built a little fire pit and put a roof on it. It's actually a cute little hide out. They were all very proud of it.
Here's Yuki, probably yelling at me about something I'm not doing as well as her father.

Ban

So Dru tried to ban me from the computer for the week and then POSTED and told me to read it.
I'm like "What the.........?"
Even though I think his post is cute.
So looks like I can put up some pic's and post about the week so far.
I'm teaching at church this Sunday and FORGOT my lesson manual.
Dru's doing a talk on Sunday as well.
Good job man.
That'll teach him from banning me from the comp.

Buppas!

By Dru

Buppas!......translation: Shoes. Yuki's newest word. I don't know where she got it from, but when she wants to go outside she grabs her shoes and brings them to us and says "Buppas!" It's the cutest thing, and even when I don't want her to go outside, I fold like oragami!

The cabin/ranch

So starting TODAY we're off to the cabin/ranch house in Wyoming for a week.
I can't wait.
Dru to myself, my shelfari books in hand, nice weather (fingers crossed) so the kids can play.
Nice big chairs, family and great food, BIG bedrooms and direct TV, guitar hero and one of the nicest cabin/ranch houses I've ever seen in my life (I said one of Pugs, ONE OF!)
Dru and his father and brother in law put an addition on this place and the family are letting us go up and holiday there.
Ahhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeeeah cheap and beautiful and just what we/I need.
I guess there'll be either an absence for the next week of posts OR if they have internet there'll be pictures to come.

Ramble

So I went to Cherry Hill today with the kids and it was awesome. Masaru went down the slide by himself and Yuki loved it and wanted to keep going but I just went three times. Masaru kept going. He did great.
I'm just feeling rather big these days and I walk slow WITHOUT A BABY and so you can imagine how slow I'm walking with 6 weeks to go.
Oh yeah I found out I'm only 34 weeks NOT 35 weeks!!
I walk at about the same pace as Yuki, but if she decides to run, that's it.
I feel like an elephant, slow and steady wins the race you know.
This pregnancy has been the hardest. But I'm not really sure as I don't really remember the others.
All I know is I THINK with Yuki I carried smaller. But who really knows. I can't trust myself and my memory.
I get bits and pieces of sleep.
My back gets sore every now and then as well as heart burn.
It's actually not too bad REALLY but it just takes me more time to do stuff I guess.
The baby is still quite active for 34 weeks and kicks and moves all the time, which I don't mind at all. I like feeling him inside me, kicking around. It let's me know he's still around and alive.
I had a scare with Yuki the week she was born and couldn't feel her move one morning and freaked out, uneccasarily, I know that word is spelt wrong, and went up to the hospital.
I'm telling you man, there's no sweeter sound than your unborn child's heartbeat.
I never tire of hearing it.
I was crying and Dru took off work.
I felt like an idiot when they told me she was just fine.
Oh well, I'd do it again.
The big question is, since I have to have c-sections, how is my scar doing?
Because if my scar is nice then I can have another, if not, then three is it.
I don't feel three is it, but I don't want to die either you know. We can't have that.
Masaru and Yuki have been really careful around me and are pretty obedient if you don't count sacrament time at church.
I'm lucky to have them.
I was playing outside with them last night, as it was such a nice night, and just thinking how much I loved them and how blessed we are to have them.
I think, they're great kids. They were busy picking up pine cones, riding bikes, falling off walls, scraping knees, things of this nature and it was very plesant, in between the cries LOL
I like being a mum and I'm looking forward to meeting this new boy.
Now if I could just figure out a name.

Apparently it's NOT the culture

So my Auntie, from NZ, my favourite Auntie, my mum's sister, read my post about thank you notes and stuff and emailed me the following:

Don't you dare blame not sending out thank you cards on your 'culture'!!! New Zealanders do send out thank you cards - it was just the Wrights who were slack at doing it Melissa. And yes, people do get offended when they give a wedding gift and don't get a written thank you. It's a good thing Dru is there to set you straight on this.


One day I'll do a post about my Auntie.
So blame it on ME, not my culture.
LOL Gotta love family

35 weeks........................I think!!

My mate from NZ who's migrated over here with me took these pictures of us, just for practice and fun. I'm always up for pictures of my KIDS but not really of me.
But I have only like one or two pictures of this pregnancy and thought I'd better take up her offer so this boy doesn't get a complex that I wasn't into this pregnancy.
She took a few and these are the ones we came up with. I'm glad we got them done. Maybe in the next pregnancy we can get one with Dru.
I don't think I have one shot of me being pregnant with Dru. Hmmmmmmmm. Maybe it's Dru who doesn't get into the pregnancies!!!
Yuki was being a pain in the butt and not really complying. So these ones are the best we got of her.

Masaru was so busy playing outside with my mates daughter that I completely forgot to get single shots of him.
Poor Masaru man, he gets ripped off with pictures. Lucky he was the first born and I've got TONS of him anyway.
And lucky for digital cameras so we can snap away as much as we want!!

Sunday Dress

So I got the kids dressed on Sunday and thought they looked pretty snazzy and so took a couple of pic's of them.
Masaru was, obviously, more interested in the TV than in letting me take pictures of him.
Plus he has this goofy look he gives me every time I get the camera out. I need to start trying candids with him. I think it'll be the only way it'll work.
The other day we were at Costco and Dru's mum saw a friend and WITH ME STANDING RIGHT THERE said "Wow he is the spitting image of Dru isn't he? He is all Dru" And said it another couple of times.

It's the first time anyone has ever said that. Dru was pretty pleased that SOMEONE in the world thinks ONE of his kids are ALL HIM. Maybe I should show her my childhood pic's.
In looking at these pictures I realize I didn't wipe Yuki's face properly enough after we brushed her teeth. Oh well.



This face is the reason this girl gets away with things ESPECIALLY with her father!! The other day she was poopy and Dru doesn't really do poop if I'm around, which is fine, there's PLENTY of things I don't do when Dru's around, but she wanted Dru to change her and he goes, and I quote "Look at that face, how could I resist that face, she's just so cute"
We're in big trouble here folks.
Big trouble.

Best thank you note

Check out this thank you note from my cute neice.
WHO COMES UP WITH THESE NAMES?
I wonder if 'six eyd bob' is one of those fish from the simpsons who's been nuclear?
And skeleton jo, I'd love to meet.
I can't wait for them to come up and introduce me to these fish.

Side note: I wasn't brought up with doing thank you notes. We just said thank you and that's it you know. I don't send them out for my kids gifts for birthdays and christmas. I was told I needed to write them after my wedding and was like "what?" Dru helped.
I've recieved thank you notes for ALL SORTS OF THINGS and it's amazing to me what people will send them out for.
I think it's great and all but it makes me think "Wow I'm not sending out notes for anything, I wonder if people get offended?"
I really am grateful for everyone and what they do for me and my family. Now I ask Dru "Is this a situation where I should send out thank you notes?" And he lets me know.
So if you should've recieved a thank you note from me and haven't...................................
Sorry man, blame it on my culture.

Yukiko

So Yuki's been telling us when she's been going poop for a few weeks now.
She also wants to sit on the potty.
Well recently she's been telling us BEFORE she needs to poop as well.
She went on the potty with DADDY the other night.
I'm not even going to attempt to potty train this girl until AFTER the baby is born, even though she's showing all signs.
I forced training on Masaru and that got me NO WHERE and really quick.
But he never showed these signs or interest.
I'm thinking that if I wait till AFTER the baby is born it MIGHT go well as it's a way she can get attention from us.
I'm thinking if I try NOW and get her trained that AFTER the baby is born she'll go backwards as a way of getting attention.
So I think when she tells us she needs to poop we'll put her on the potty and just let her sit on it whenever she feels like and be super casual about it.
I can't NOT put her on if she's asking.
That might backfire on us.
Ah the big decisions of a stay at home mothers life.
LOL

Library

So Masaru and I went to the library to get books.
He could get 10.
We got 2 for Yuki and the rest for him.
Our trip took about 20 minutes from door to door.
There was no mucking around, we were in, he searched the shelves and pulled out the books he wanted, then we were out.
We went inside the house and read for 20 minutes then he was off outside playing on his bike.
I considered staying and reading them to him IN the library but you have to go downstairs do get to the children's books and then back upstairs to check them out then BACK downstairs to read them to him and UPSTAIRS again to get back to the car.
Catch that up with me being the size of a whale and all.
It was all I could do to do it once.
So I think I might take Yuki next time and see how it goes.
I'm sure she can get 10 out as well. I wonder what she'd pick.

Outside fun

Not only do we have our cuzzies as neighbours but this family as well. They have a little boy a little older than Masaru and a little girl around 3.
This is the little boy playing with Yuki. He's so good to her. She LOVES this slide that just hangs out in their front yard.
Then he also has a jeep that you can ride in and Masaru LOVES that.
He's so generous with it as well. It's so nice.
By the time we MAYBE could afford one of these Masaru will be too old and I feel bad. I know he doesn't need one but he loves it so much.
I dunno. I'd like to get him one but he doesn't need it when he has this one to play with right?
Even on these rainy days Masaru and Yuki want to play outside. I let them for a while. Maybe they'll get sick. I dunno.
Any dry spell and they're both out.
I love that the kids like playing outside. It's great.
But THEY DO LOVE TV. Don't get me wrong.

Valkyrie

I just watched this movie and also saw another movie a few days ago called 'Defiance'.
Both are about the Nazi war from completely different persepectives.
I loved them both for different reasons.
I'm not sure if they're R rated. I guess I'm confessing my sins if they are and if you want to judge me, go ahead, but I'd watch them again.
Valkyrie, I loved because it showed that not all Germans were Hitler lovers and some tried to do something about it.
They saw that Hitler was a mad man and that what he was doing to the Jews was horrific.
They gave their lives and left their families to try to stop this from happening to the country and to the Jews.
I think these people are heros.
I guess this why this movie was made. To make us see a different side of the story.
I'm not one for a sad ending, and this was a sad ending, but I think it was important.
Definace was about four brothers who out ran the Nazi's into the forest to protect themselves and ended up saving around 1200 people by taking them in and forming a community in the forest.
These Jews, lived in the forest for almost 3 years and fought for their lives.
It was heart wrenching and at the same time liberating.
I'm grateful to have seen this different side of the Jewish story. One of definance, to be delivered into the concentration camps, one of heroic leadership when there was limited supplies and food.
I can't begin to understand from movies what these people, in the camps, in the forest and as Germans who didn't believe in Hilter, had to go through.
My guess is I never will.
All I know is that from these movies it makes me think.
It makes me think about these people and their courage, their cause for a greater good, their sacrifice and their ledgends.
I'm glad I saw these movies.
I'm glad to have a different perpective on this.
Both movies were true.

Masaru and his bike

So here's some video's of Masaru riding his new bike.
He was doing well on his little bike and I was just going to let him ride that for the summer but his Auntie and Uncle gave him this bigger bike, as they weren't using it anymore.
So he's very lucky, as I think it's a better fit for his size.
I know he doesn't have a helmet on. Shame on us. I just couldn't find it. Sorry. He usually has it on and doesn't take it off, even when he's not biking, and then when we go to pull it off his head is all sweaty.
It's pretty gross.
But I think he's doing great on it and am proud of him.
Technically he could ride his bike when he was three. But he wasn't too good and did it just for us. This year it took him about a day and he could ride it again and push start himself.
He's just been getting better ever since.
Ahhhhh memories of riding your bike during the summer.
Love it.









This last video is my favourite.
He thinks he's awesome doing this.
I love it.

All about Dru

I moved the camera from downstairs to upstairs. So hopefully today I'll get pic's of the kids.
We went to cherry hill yesterday as well and it was GREAT. I'm so glad my kids can have this for the summer.
It started raining so we went home though. What's so funny is that my mate, Laura, who I went with, once we got home WENT BACK.
She's a true die hard. I was laughing so much.
Anyway I thought this was fun to do for my kids to know a little about what their mum thinks about their dad right now.


How well do you know your hubby???

1- He's sittin in front of the T.V. whats on? - Some movie, Amazing Race, Lost, CSI

2- You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3- What's one food he doesn't like? Food that tastes like sea waters

4- You go out to eat and have a drink? Dr. Pepper

5- Where did he go to high school? Bountiful High

6- What size shoe does he wear? 10 1/2

7- If he could go to any one sporting event, what would it be? Real Salt lake game (Anyone got tickets they'd wanna hook us up with?)

8- What is his favorite type of sandwich? PB and J or tuna

9- What would he eat everyday if he could? Grandma's bread from Utah

10- What is his favorite cereal? It changes with his mood. He gets on cereal kicks for about a week then changes. It's all he'll eat for the week, then he's done for a while.

11- What would he never wear? Make up, I've tried, he keeps telling me no. But his eyes are so beautiful, I just wanna see what mascara would look like on them.

12- What is his favorite sports team? He doesn't have one.

13- Who did he vote for? I'm not saying

14- Who is his best friend? Me of course.

15- What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? I'm late to everything and he hates it. I think he wishes I'd be more respectful of time.

16- What is his heritage? Japanese and American.

17- You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind is it? Hmmmmmmm a home made carrot cake with no nuts or raisins and cream cheese frosting.

18- Did he play sports in high school? Ice Hockey

19- What could he spend hours doing? Wake boarding, snow mobiling, working on his land cruiser, talking to his brother, studying law.

20- What is one unique talent? Not putting on weight. He did next to NO exersize this whole semester and MAYBE put on 10 pounds.
He makes me sick.

Ok

So turns out it was a phone we forgot about upstairs in the 'blue' room that was just off the hook.
So I was without a phone for a few days and it's something I could've totally fixed.
Bummer.
And now we have internet.
You all need to know that Dru's parents house is like the black hole.
Technology stuff doesn't really work out too great here.
Even our mate who's super brainy said it was a black hole.
So hopefully this is the only tech difficulty of the summer. We'll see.
Plus Dru's dad can honestly just hit 'enter' on your computer and it starts to smoke up and burn from the insides. LOL
He has such back luck.
Anyway we're back on track and I still don't have any pic's of Masaru riding his bike. I've been really usless with pictures since being here. I need to do better.
We worked on the yard for most of the day today and it doesn't look like we did much.
Don't you hate that.
But it does look a lot better though.
We took the kids swimming tonight at a mates house. They loved it. I didn't take my camera for that either.
I need to just keep it in the car.
I've started reading Dracula.
I'm up to about chapter 6 and it's very interesting and already quite dark. I can't get to sleep at night and reading puts me to sleep so I've crept out of bed and started reading it late at night on the couch.
Last night I was so scared the light stayed on cause I was too scared to go turn the light off under the stairs and have to walk all the way back to the room where our bed was without a monster getting me.
I know, I've got problems.
My brother, Llewellyn, said to me one time "Out of all these years Melissa, have you ever seen a monster?"
I said "No, but it only takes one monster and I'm dead!"

No internet

Ok so turns out we have no internet either on a consistent basis.
I feel really out of sorts.
I'm over at my SIL again and have been EVERY DAY to try and keep up with the world.
But Dru's mum comes home tonight and I don't think SHE'LL go without the phone at least so I"m hoping next week we can be up and running.
I want to post about Masaru and how great he is on his bike. It's long overdue. He does so well on it, going over curbs and doing little jumps, all sweaty in his sponge bob helmet.
Man lucky we cut his hair this summer.
You should see his hair RIGHT NOW. I can only imagine with 5 pounds of hair.

No phone

Dru's parents phone isn't working.
So if anyone has tried to ring me in the past 2 days they would've gotten a busy signal.
It's odd cause all the phone's say 'line in use' and we've checked all the phones and all of them AREN'T in use.
Dru and Mas can't figure it out and I certainly can't figure it out, so Mas said he's call the phone people.
So far no phone people have come to the house.
I wonder how long I'll be without a phone?
Lucky for email I guess.
So for now if I'm desperate to make a call, which is everyday cause I"m trying to sort out insurance for this baby, I run over to my SIL.
Dru's cell is still working but he's at work, and MOST of the calls I need to make are during the day, not at 5:30pm.
This is the only time I wish I had a cell.
Oh well.
So if you really wanna talk. I guess email me and we'll go from there.
Or call Dru's cell after 5:30pm.

Motion

I guess we were all wrong.
The paper Dru was writing was called a motion and he just finished it yesterday and handed it to his boss.
Dru and one kid from the UofU worked on it and the boss thought it was great.
He said usually interns papers are too wordy and he has to cut out tons but these guys did a great job and just fixed a couple of typo's and words and was impressed.
Dru also went into court yesterday with his boss and said it was quick but cool.
He really likes working at this place.
I'm glad.

No rest for the wicked

So we went to our old ward yesterday for the first time and Masaru DID NOT WANT TO GO TO PRIMARY.
He doesn't do well with change we figured.
Nursery, pre-school, primary. Usually he throws a fit. Well yesterday was no execption. Dru had to sit with him for half the time.
I dunno what his deal is.
I'm assuming when he starts back up at pre-school it'll be the same.
Yuki walked into nursery and was like "See ya" and that was the end of that.
THANKS YUKI.
Anyway it was nice to see people.
After church I got a calling.
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
I'll let you know next week.
I'm pretty happy with it.